


Two's Better Than A Crowd

by Merrywetherweather



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Bubble Bath, Comfort, Davekat Week, Day 6, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 07:58:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4738712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrywetherweather/pseuds/Merrywetherweather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Davekat Week 2k15 Day 6: Hurt/ Comfort<br/>Dave and Karkat go to a fair as a date. They get separated. Dave has an anxiety attack and Karkat calms him down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two's Better Than A Crowd

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of this is really based on some real life experience. Writing it almost felt therapeutic. Anyway, please enjoy.

            Fairs are not usually your thing. You don’t know why. Large groups of people moving every which way. Enough snacks to make your head explode from sensory overload. The decimal level of like fifty wind turbines all working at once.

            Okay, well, maybe you _do_ kind of know why.

            But Karkat had apparently wanted to experience one. And if your boyfriend wants to go to a fair, then goddamn it, you are gonna take his fine ass to a fair.

He holds his hand in yours, tugging you along. “This way! I want to sample and possibly ingest some of your putrid earth garbage.”

            The smell of sweetened popcorn hits you hard. You smile at him. “It’s called kettle corn.”

            “It’s called ‘Shut the fuck up, Dave, and take me to that food booth.’”

            The crowd shifts. Some music starts up behind you. You figure a band is beginning to play a set. Some guy wearing a ‘Keep calm and watch Doctor Who’ shirt bumps into you. You make a mental note to draw a sbahj comic about those kinds of shirts later. They just scream for ironic indulgence and excruciatingly painful criticism.

            Another person bumps into your other side, this time muttering an apology. “Uh, Karkat?” Karkat continues walking, oblivious to the unending river moving against you.

            A few more people nudge you before someone just outright rams into your side, knocking you back a step. You feel Karkat’s hand slip out of yours.

            You stand stock still, dumbfounded that someone as tall as you could still be knocked around in a wave of people. You look around frantically. Karkat is quite short by human standards. It might be fairly difficult to find him in a crowd.

Another part of your brain tries to reason. _But he also has candy corn horns sticking out of his head, right? Finding him shouldn’t be that hard._

After a minute of peering over heads and getting jostled around, panic starts to set in.  Where is Karkat? Where are _you_? Are you still standing in the same spot you lost him in? That’s what you’re supposed to do if you get lost, right? Stay put?

A cold sweat starts to break out down your back, despite it being August and like ninety-five fucking degrees outside. Your breathing picks up and you swear your heart is gonna give out at any moment. Your hands are clammy. Are you starting to shake or is it just the vibrations coming from the amp the band is using? God, why is it so loud? Why are there so many people? Why can’t you _breathe?!  
_             “Dave?” A small gray hand takes yours, anchoring your mind back to your body’s present location. You feel your feet moving and you know someone is pulling you along, but your brain is too muddled to think straight.

You’re led to a shady place, off to the side and under a tree. You recognize it as the picnic area you and Karkat were sitting at not a half hour ago.

Where is Karkat?

Karkat is-

Karkat is right on front of you.

He stands on tip-toes, placing his hands on your shoulders and forcing you to sit down. He plants himself down next to you and reaches up to remove your shades. He wipes away tears. When did you start crying? And tries to calm you down, “Shh. It’s okay. I’m here. You didn’t lose me. God, I didn’t know you were this bad with crowds. We could have gone later or really not at all. Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.”

You take a deep breath and it enters your pipes kind of shakily.

“That was so strange. I turned around and you were gone. I think the crowd was moving you around, but when I found you again, you were just standing in place, straight faced, staring at nothing. You still seem a little out of it. Hey, are you okay? Dave, say something. Please?” His voice sounds scared. You’re scaring him.

“Yeah, I guess I was just a little shaken up.”

He frowns and you quickly realize that statement is not gonna fly. “Do you want to go home?”

You quickly shake your head ‘no’. You didn’t even win him a teddy bear yet. You were talkin that one up so much earlier, it would be embarrassing to skip out on it now.

“Right, we’re going home,” He answers for you definitively.

You can’t say anything to dissuade him. It feels like there’s a disconnect between your brain and your mouth. He stands up and, taking your hand again, pulls you to your feet.

When you arrive home you don’t know what to say. What _could_ you say? How could it have turned out like this? How could you ruin your date? He was so excited. He was so-

Karkat leads you to the bathroom. He drops your hand when you enter and, not knowing what to do with your body, you shift awkwardly from side to side and stare at the ground, the ceiling, hey, that empty shampoo bottle looks pretty interesting suddenly, just anything that isn’t Karkat.

He turns on the faucet and puts his hand under, checking the temperature. He turns around and looks at you. “Strip.”

You don’t hesitate to follow his orders because you can do that. Following orders right now is nice. Not having to think too hard about stuff on your own right now is nice. He also drops his clothes to the floor and, taking your hand once more, leads you into the tub.

He has you lie back on the bottom and sits himself in your lap. He leans forward and pours some soap into the basin, waiting for the running water to churn it into a bubble bonanza. The smell of lavender fills the room and you relax, leaning further back against the tub, just melting. Karkat leans back into you too. His hands find yours, cupping them and rubbing soothing circles into your palms with his thumbs. You exhale and the awful crowd that had imprinted itself onto the back of your eyelids slowly starts to fade away into a comfortable black silence.

You feel Karkat’s head resting on your chest. He shifts to look up at you. “Better?”

You look down at him and he doesn’t look as angry as you thought he might be for ruining your date. You kiss his nose and when you pull back he’s got a goofy grin on his face. “Much better. Sorry,” You tack on a hastily added apology.

He shrugs. “It’s okay. It wasn’t that great. Besides, there are just some things you can’t do during dates when you’re in public.” He stretches up and kisses your neck.

You nod. “Yeah, it’s a real shame we couldn’t be doing this earlier. Why aren’t all of our dates in the comfort of our own home? Actually, why aren’t they all more orientated towards us being naked together in a tub?”

Karkat snickers at you, obviously pleased with your chattiness having returned. “I’ll be more than accommodating next time you want to plan another one of these.”

You smile at him, thanking troll Jegus that you were blessed with someone so understanding. “Yes, please.”

**Author's Note:**

> *Shoves personal characteristics, like anxiety, onto my favorite characters*  
> I am unapologetic.


End file.
